Carl Day (April 1875[1] – April 12, 1904)[2] was an American politician who represented Breathitt, Lee, and Magoffin Counties[3] in the Kentucky House of Representatives for three months in 1904[4] before dying in office. He is known for introducing the Day Law, which mandated racial segregation in privately-owned educational institutions.
Carl Day | |
|---|---|
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| Member of the Kentucky House of Representatives from the 92nd district | |
| In office January 1, 1904 – April 12, 1904 | |
| Preceded by | John P. Adams |
| Succeeded by | John C. Griffith |
| Personal details | |
| Born | April 1875 Frozen Creek, Kentucky |
| Died | April 12, 1904 Lexington, Kentucky |
| Resting place | Day Cemetery Jackson, Kentucky |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Relations | Walter R. Day |
| Education | Central University |
Early life and education
editPrior to running for office, Day grew up in Frozen Creek, Kentucky located in Breathitt County.[5] Day's father was Judge Nathan B. Day. In 1900, his brother Walter R. Day served as Kentucky State Treasurer under Governor William S. Taylor.[5][6][7]
In 1895, Day began attending Central University (present day Eastern Kentucky University). He was a member of Sigma Nu as well as various other student organizations, and was compared to Demosthenes in his freshman yearbook for his apparent oratorical abilities.[8]
By 1901, Day was serving as Frozen Creek's postmaster.[9]
Political career
editDay Law
editDay claimed to have been motivated by a November 1903 trip to Berea, Kentucky[10] — home of Berea College, which was Kentucky's only racially-integrated educational institution[11] — where he witnessed an interracial embrace between two female students.[12][13][14]
Historian T. R. C. Hutton has noted that, although "various commentators [have] blamed" the Day law on "Carl Day's egregious personal racism or his personal vendetta towards Berea College," it may also — or instead — have been a ploy meant to increase the influence of Day's extended family in Breathitt County: "more a cynical political maneuver than a sincere attack on integration." Hutton has also pointed out that Day's only other bill was one which allowed timberland owners to deny right of way to adjoining lands, thereby making it impossible for smaller landowners to reach markets or bodies of water — a "final nail in the coffin for the (...) free-ranging mountain economy".[15]
Death
editIn March 1904, Day began experiencing symptoms of "inflammatory rheumatism" and was hospitalized. He died of pneumonia on April 12, 1904. His funeral was conducted by the Elks Lodge and Knights of Pythias, after which he was interred in his family's cemetery in Breathitt County.[2]
References
edit- ^ Kentucky: Portrait in Paradox, 1900-1950, by James C. Klotter; p. 152; published January 1, 1996, by University Press of Kentucky
- ^ a b DEATH COMES to hon. Carl Day, of Breathitt County, originally published April 15, 1904, in The Twice-A-Week Messenger of Owensboro, Kentucky; via newspapers.com
- ^ Journal of the Special Session of the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, January 12, 1905; p. 19
- ^ Kentucky General Assembly Membership, 1900-2005 - Vol. I 1900 - 1949, Informational Bulletin No. 175 (4th revised edition), by the Legislative Research Commission; published April 2005; p. 125, "1904 General Assembly Membership": Day is listed with an "(n)", indicating that he was newly-elected, and the 1904 legislative session began in January 1904
- ^ a b REPRESENTATIVE CARL DAY DIES OF PNEUMONIA, in the Lexington Herald; published April 13, 1904; archived at FindAGrave
- ^ A Reconstructed Eastern Kentucky Newspaper: A Century Ago This Week by Knott County Historical Society, by David R. Smith; published 2004; archived at Rootsweb
- ^ Receiver Appointed for N. B. Day & Co.—Assets Nearly Double Liabilities, in the Winchester, Kentucky Sun-Sentinel, published September 1, 1904; archived at the Clark County Public Library
- ^ The Cream and Crimson. Richmond, Kentucky: Central University. 1896.
- ^ Official Register of the United States, Volume 2,published 1901, by the United States Civil Service Commission, p. 132
- ^ A History of Education in Kentucky, by William Ellis; published June 1, 2011, by University of Kentucky Press
- ^ Louisville's Historic Black Neighborhoods, by Beatrice S. Brown, p. 125; published 2012 by Arcadia Press
- ^ This Kentucky college did the unthinkable by pushing integration during slavery, by Maggie Menderski, in the Louisville Courier Journal; published February 5, 2020; retrieved April 1, 2022
- ^ 'The State Must Provide' Is A Lesson On Inequality In Higher Ed, Past And Present, on Fresh Air; at National Public Radio; published August 16, 2021; retrieved April 1, 2022
- ^ The Little College Where Tuition Is Free and Every Student Is Given a Job, by Adam Harris, in The Atlantic; published October 11, 2018; retrieved April 1, 2022
- ^ Bloody Breathitt: Politics and Violence in the Appalachian South, by T.R.C. Hutton; p. 189; published July 2013, by University of Kentucky Press